


A Forest for Two

by nonky



Category: Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries - Franklin W. Dixon & Carolyn Keene
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene, Tribute Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:08:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29763579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: They were truly on borrowed time. If they were gone too long the search would extend to bringing them back to the lodge. She wanted to linger and enjoy him, but it wasn’t the most comfortable setting. Being found naked by their worried friends and Frank’s brother would sour things.Rated for sexual content, please see notes regarding the plot framing these events.
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Frank Hardy
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	A Forest for Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aprhrodite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprhrodite/gifts).
  * Inspired by [don't go into the woods](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11745495) by [aprhrodite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprhrodite/pseuds/aprhrodite). 



> I have on-going stories to write, but I grew really attached to an as-yet unfinished fic under the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys tags. It's a suspenseful mystery about a ski trip to an isolated private home with a long-ago tragedy that remained unsolved. Nancy, Frank, Joe, Bess, George, Ned, and former classmate Deirdre gathered, and one of their party went missing on a cold winter night. The remaining friends set out on foot to search, and that's about where the story was left. 
> 
> I kept imagining the next bit until it drove me crazy and I had to write it. So, with gratitude to the author of "Don't Go Into the Woods", please consider this an unofficial missing scene. I strongly encourage reading (leaving kudos and reviewing) it as it is posted. I have done my best not to spoil for any of the twists beyond the larger setup.

The promised fun of the ski trip was as stone dead as the grass they walked over underneath the piled snow. The areas where wind had hollowed the flakes down showed muddy mess, and Nancy thought it was oddly fitting. 

She could have the clean frozen feeling of being alone, or the convoluted twists of emotions from trying to mend fences. Other people meant companionship but not necessarily understanding. She still didn’t know why she’d had to come to this abandoned place. It was probably something deep and subconscious about losing people and trying to rationalize how it fell apart. It had been a feeling more than a plan, and she’d trusted her reaction.

The drive had been long, and the strained atmosphere had already made her cry twice. She didn’t know if she was a masochist for anticipating the trip with secretive glee. It had been nice to feel clever about all her manipulations. She had wheedled her reluctant friends, and braved a phone call to her ex. It had even been amusing at the time to hear his shock. Ned hadn’t expected she’d call, and Nancy had pushed hard for him to feel free to bring Deirdre.

If the other young woman was hurt, the prime suspect should be Nancy. She had arranged everything perfectly to put her guests in unexpected danger. 

“I thought I was fixing something, you know? I had this idea if I got everybody together away from school and competition, Deirdre wouldn’t be a problem. Maybe she was right to be resentful of us. We didn’t try very hard to befriend her. At best we tolerated her.”

Deirdre had been desperately obvious in her attraction to Ned. He’d always been polite but distant. Nancy knew there was a time when it changed, but couldn’t really say when. She’d likely been out of town, leaving her boyfriend lonely. The breakup wasn’t even, but it was mutual. She’d let him go with neglect.

“You can’t fix how someone feels. I don’t want to judge anyone, but she doesn’t seem like she showed up here to make friends,” Frank said. “My impression was she was glad to be unwelcome but here anyway. She might have preferred to crash uninvited.”

Nancy knew Deirdre enjoyed pushing buttons and getting Bess to react badly. She had hoped her sweet friend could learn to speak up for herself, and move past the vulnerability to sniping comments. George was quick to defend her cousin, but usually prolonged the unpleasantness by adding her own insults to the mix. 

“I’ve had real enemies,” she said sadly. “People genuinely out to hurt or even kill me. I don’t want personal feuds. I can go solve a case and get into that kind of trouble. When I’m at home, I like a little peace.”

Frank didn’t say anything, but he gave a very mild frown she took as his disagreement. 

“Okay, not for a long time or anything, but I don’t want to be dodging fights on my breaks in River Heights. It’s not a big enough place to avoid people,” Nancy told him. 

“Can I ask - “

He had to pause to push at a branch, holding it after so she could get by. Nancy looked back and Frank looked worried.

“Frank? What is it?”

“No, it’s nothing. So we’re probably not going to be able to see footprints unless they’re actually from bare feet. I think this is where Bess and Joe got lost earlier. Everything is stamped down.”

He started forward but she didn’t, turning to face him. Her huff of frustration made a cloud of warmth around them for a second, and then it went cold. Half an hour ago Nancy had been thinking it was strangely wonderful trailing behind his tall form through the snow, feeling looked after as he navigated them around slippery spots and buried rocks. She hadn’t known there was a missing member of their group. She hadn’t been forced to come clean about her ulterior motives in the ski trip. 

“I know you better than that,” she said firmly. “You wanted to ask something important. Deirdre might be hurt. You can’t spare my feelings.”

He shook his head, looking impatient. “It wasn’t about that. It’s not going to make a difference in finding her. I just wish we had better flashlights.”

It wasn’t convincing. She knew him well enough to see he was mulling over something. It couldn’t have been purely factual. For all her research, Nancy didn’t know much about the area that wasn’t easy to figure out. It was deserted because most of it was privately owned. Locals would have their own land near cabins. The lodge went empty for a long time, and was only getting a little attention as a precursor to selling it. 

He wouldn’t be hesitating to grill her about the house or the mountain. They had talked about the mystery earlier, and Frank hadn’t seemed even a little upset. The situation was less innocent now. Nancy decided to let it alone. She’d made him comfort her twice now, and at least one of those times she didn’t deserve the sympathy.

They were standing too close, her face tipped up to his and Frank leaning down to meet her. He looked as exhausted as she felt. Nancy wanted to touch his jaw and smooth away the tension there. 

“It’s cold, we should keep moving,” he said, and she stared at his mouth.

They didn’t have time for another personal issue, and she stepped back. It wasn’t in her nature not to wonder, though. She was distracted as she walked. There wasn’t much to see, and her flashlight was getting swallowed by trees. They could pass Deirdre close enough to touch and not see her. 

“God, it’s so hard to see anything! How are we going to find her?”

“I think we have to assume she’s at least inside somewhere,” Frank said calmly. “Ned seems to think she wasn’t planning on going anywhere. The way he tells it she was dressed for bed and just heading to the bathroom. But if she did leave the house on her own, I feel like she might enjoy watching him worry about her. She might have stayed hidden to let it carry on a bit. The other possibility is she got turned around and needs help to find us.”

“I can’t imagine doing that to someone I love,” Nancy replied. “I guess it’s not nearly as crazy as suspecting she was kidnapped.”

The building was ahead of them, fairly small but tidy. It looked in good repair, and it was much closer to the ski hill than the lodge. They weren’t on private property anymore. There were signs of paths made and covered by new snow. Someone was keeping the building standing, or maybe using it regularly.

“It’s not crazy, but it’s based on the history of the lodge. If we didn’t know about that, we would be more concerned about Dierdre out in the cold. This is a place she could shelter if it’s open. Maybe she wasn’t dressed warmly and had to stay put. We each have a phone but judging from Joe’s call to me they might not work well.”

It was reasoned and practical. Nancy wished she could believe Deirdre was playing a cruel prank on them. She had braved the basement looking for Ned earlier, but this was a lot to do for attention. 

“I hope you’re right. I’d love to see Deirdre right now,” she said. 

The door stuck but it swung in with a shove. Frank went first, aiming his light around the single room. It had a cast iron wood stove in the corner, a few chairs, and a rack of sporting equipment crammed in the tiny space. Everything was a little shabby. Nancy wrinkled her nose at the dust in the air. 

Frank pointed up to the ceiling, to a few small boats strapped to the exposed ceiling beams. “I think this might be for summer. The kayaks are a lot newer than the skis. It wasn’t locked. There’s nothing much to take easily. Maybe it’s kept open in case someone needs to get warm.”

It was still empty, but the idea of more buildings gave Nancy hope. She went over to touch the wood stove. It was cold, and the ash inside didn’t have any faint glow. It wasn’t completely unused, but no one had been there recently.

“I’m glad it’s here, but she isn’t. It took us a while to find it, and we had flashlights and directions. I can’t see her getting any farther from the lodge,” she said. “We should go back.”

He shut the door with a little force, making it latch. Frank picked up the two chairs and moved them closer to the stove. He opened the grate and put firewood in, digging in his pocket. 

“You’re getting the fire ready in case she gets here?”

“No, I’m making sure we don’t get frostbite from wandering around the woods,” he said grimly. “You’re freezing. I know you won’t go inside the lodge and stay there, so we’re going to light this fire and warm up before we head back.”

Nancy didn’t want to be alone with him huddled up to a fire. She’d done this before with Frank, and they’d honestly been afraid they were going to die. The one desperate kiss had been wonderful, but the anxiety after was brutal. Cheating on Ned had shaken her self-esteem. It was okay to like Frank and have things in common. When her attraction made the situation complicated she had trouble even being his friend.

“Deirdre is out there, though,” she said. “We need to be doing something to help.”

Frank glanced at her, finding his lighter and flicking it. “Like making sure we’re okay so no one else has to be looking for us? Sit down, and put your hat and gloves by the stove to dry. We can spare twenty minutes.”

He whipped off his coat and laid it across one of the chairs, gesturing for her to sit as he crouched next to the stove. Once the fire was burning well he stood up. 

“You’re shivering, and you’re really pale,” Frank said gruffly. “We’re not prepared to do search and rescue in the snow. It’s a hell of a lot colder without sunlight. Enjoy the fire and rest.”

A break felt necessary, and she sat down with a slump. She should argue, but they were suffering from the cold. The bottoms of her jeans were damp and she was regretting the drink she’d had earlier. Nancy pulled off her gloves and hat, and unzipped her coat. With both of them sitting the little room felt like a dollhouse. Frank was rubbing his hands together and he looked stressed.

“I’m really sorry I got you into this,” Nancy told him quietly. She tossed her gloves on the floor and stared at the snow melting off them. “I am glad you’re here.”

“I’m not glad I’m here, but I wouldn’t want to not be here for you,” he replied. “We’ll figure it out, Nan.”

He looked at her with a small smile, and held her gaze long enough to make it clear his irritation wasn’t directed at her. They were quiet for a while, shuffling their feet nearer the stove and taking in the warmth. She rubbed at her face and realized she’d been awake about fifteen hours. She and Hannah had been up early making sandwiches and packing the car. It had seemed simple to drive to the lodge and be in bed whenever she wanted to be refreshed for the next day. 

Looking back, Nancy had been planning to go to bed as soon as she could get away. The initial confrontations and getting reacquainted would be over by their first full day. George’s offer of drinks should have smoothed over some of the ill feelings. At least that had been the idea when Nancy had gulped one down after Frank and Ned got into their standoff. 

“You were right. I was getting too cold. It makes it harder to think clearly,” she told Frank. “I was being a crybaby.”

“You were getting yelled at by a room of people. I understand why it was such a big deal, but you didn’t know anything about Deirdre at first. They dragged us inside and started four different arguments. I was upset for you.”

This side of Frank was familiar and comfortable. He would stand up for her and keep her safe. He would also have opinions about what she’d done that he would never voice if they reflected badly on her. Nancy appreciated his loyalty. It was just not satisfying when she wasn’t calm and collected. It made her feel like she was a burden. She knew he didn’t want her to apologize, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“I’m going to do better ignoring Ned. We don’t have to be friendly. He can be hung up on you but that doesn’t mean I have to - react to his comments. I don’t care what he says, really,” Frank told her. 

He shrugged, and Nancy felt all the extra muscle he’d built up since she’d seen him last. His face had sharpened into a good jawline, and all his features were strong and proportioned. The young, cute version of Frank had matured into someone a little intimidating. If he wasn’t still the same gentle soul underneath she might have been nervous. 

“I know you didn’t start that. He was always insecure about some of my friends,” she said awkwardly. 

Frank stretched his leg out, and leaned down to fix the lace of his boots. He stared at the fire and sighed. “You know you don’t have to stay friends with him. I tried with Callie. It’s a small town, and it made sense. But at best we do greetings and keep walking.”

“Getting his girlfriend lost in the woods is going to take care of that,” Nancy agreed sadly. “I’m sorry about Callie. She must be sorry to lose you.”

He turned to her with a look of surprise, and Nancy smiled encouragingly. “You’re a great guy. You’ll find someone in no time. I’m shocked you haven’t.”

Frank’s body shifted away from her as much as he could in the tiny spot they’d made next to the fire. “Eh, you know, that’s just what people say. It’s nice of you but it’s not that easy.”

He was terrible with compliments about anything other than his detective skills. Nancy should leave him alone, but she hated how his tone went dark. It suddenly felt very important he believed she was sincere. He looked after her all the time, in a way she didn’t feel comfortable accepting from just anyone.

It had never been an accident her attraction to him sometimes made her forget about Ned for a handful of moments. She thought if they lived closer during high school she might well have been Frank’s girlfriend instead. It felt mutual during those stressful lapses when they both knew better but couldn’t seem to hold back. She’d met Callie and reacted to her similarly to Frank and Ned’s passive-aggressive rivalry. Nancy knew she’d been jealous of the other girl. It was unfair, but she’d probably never get over that envy.

She sat up, pushing away the bulk of coats draped around her back. Nancy turned to him and watched his face tense. She nodded quickly, but didn’t let herself off the hook. He deserved something deeper than implied things buried in innocuous comments. 

“It’s not me being nice. I never liked her. Sorry. She never did anything wrong. You said you broke up and I thought ‘good!’ even though my opinion isn’t fair. I don’t know what you’d want from someone you’re dating, but I wouldn’t have picked her for you.”

Her clumsy honesty was making it sound like she was matchmaking now. Nancy sighed and made herself joke about it. “If you ask Bess she’ll create a dating profile that could have you married by the end of the month!”

Frank relaxed, giving a comic grimace. “You know, I misspoke. I’m actually already getting married. She’s a member of the British royalty, a princess. Gonna be a duke, I’m told,” he said with false excitement. 

“Oh, great! Which princess?”

He went blank, searching his memory for a name. “One of the redheads, Eunace?”

Nancy chuckled. “Princess Eunace, sure, she’s gorgeous! Congratulations on marrying a redhead.”

Frank nodded and scratched his chin. “Yeah, well, once you go you can’t go back.”

Even before he said it they were both tensed and dreading the silence after. It was only a joke. It didn’t have to mean anything. They could let it pass and in thirty seconds one of them could think of something normal to say. Another few minutes and they should get back to searching for Deirdre. 

Nancy didn’t want it to pass. She stood up, forgetting the clammy feel of her wet jeans and her exhaustion. Her legs actually had to part around his knee, and his face was level with her chest. She was breathing heavily, staring at the top of his head. 

Frank would never do this to her and she didn’t want to pressure him. But this wasn’t a subtle signal, and Nancy didn’t want to make another excuse. She didn’t take him lightly. Whatever this was had become a gradual loss of balance. She was tipping toward him, with fewer reasons than ever to stop herself. 

“Look at me,” she whispered.

It was like a feather knocking down a mountainside. He came up fast, his hands going to the sides of her face. Frank rose above her like he’d formed magically in her arms. He was a bit too tall for her to reach without going on her toes. 

“All I do is look at you, it’s getting obscene,” he muttered. 

They were both in layers of sweaters and it felt naked when she stretched up to kiss him. He hitched her knee up and lifted, groping back to sit down. Nancy gasped and he didn’t hesitate to kiss her deeply. Her hands fisted in his sweater and he pulled her close. They were swaying and rubbing together. The wet pairs of jeans were almost a pleasant sensation with friction. 

Next to his flirtatious brother, Frank was the shy one. He cupped her ass and rolled his hips against her, pressing between her legs in almost perfect alignment. It was nearly rehearsed how easily she found angles to meet his mouth. Her hand went into his hair and clawed his scalp. 

He groaned, and they were drifting into the glittering satisfaction hitting in jolts when her wiggling ground on his cock dead centre. Nancy felt legitimately too stupid to stop. She was making squeaky little noises at him, neither of them yet breaking the kiss. 

Frank’s hand got under her sweaters and up her back, and he opened her bra. He shaped her spine like braille and touched softly along her side reaching to her front. He pulled the lace away until he could palm her breast and knead it. 

The jittery hot and cold she was feeling was all coming from arousal. Nancy knew the cabin wasn’t even really warm, but she was cooking in all her clothes. She wanted to touch him without barriers.

“I want to go to the floor,” she said, finally pulling back. 

She barely tracked the move, but he gripped her, knelt and shoved the chairs away. Frank set her down gently, and took his hands away to pull his sweater over his head. He looked twice as muscular out of his shirt, sculpted and textured with chest hair over his upper chest. She reached for him and touched it, getting an uncertain chuckle from Frank.

“You’re petting me like a dog,” he said, his face going red. 

“Sorry, it’s just . . . different,” Nancy said quietly. “I still sort of picture you younger, and now you look like a model in a cologne ad.” 

“I really don’t.”

He folded his sweater a few times and put it down behind her. She hesitated and he leaned down, pressing his face to her neck and smelling her. 

It was ridiculously hot, snapping her out of the momentary nerves. They could walk away from this without changing too much, but it would be looming behind his eyes and the ache of her belly. The unknown waited outside, and maybe they would return to find Deirdre laughing at their worry. Maybe they had a real tragedy, and maybe this was a prank gone too far. Life would always have trouble of some sort. This with Frank, this unexpected glory was the payoff for the bad.

He was nuzzling across her hair, a simple kiss to her earlobe knocking the wind out of her. Nancy shuddered and arched without meaning to do it, realizing he’d given her a pillow. It was endearing, and she put her arms around him again. 

As she lay down he went with her, her legs skewed to invite him on top of her. Their hips picked up a steady escalating rhythm, sometimes holding in a grinding torture that made both of them shake. They were going to have to do something more. Nancy didn’t think she’d be able to walk as turned on as she was, and Frank had to be in pain. She could feel the outline of him, hot and intimidating. 

He was being gentle, but leaving her no space for her own. His hand was behind her shoulder, the other arm holding his weight. She had squirmed her sweaters up and off her middle, and her open bra wasn’t covering her. She took a deep breath tipped away from his mouth for a split second and grabbed at her shirt. 

“Just let me take this off,” she murmured. 

They parted just enough to peel her out of the sweaters, Frank’s finger hooking under the strap of her bra until she nodded and he took it off as well. There was a moment of dipping terror when she felt him looking at her with far more than she deserved. It might have been awe, and she’d never aspired to that.  
He looked like he wanted to say something and couldn’t figure it out. His palm was big enough to span a lot of her at once, and he just played it across her skin with light pressure. He seemed to enjoy all of it equally, just twitching his fingertips to test spots. It kindled a sentiment very intense for a mild touch. 

Frank walked his fingers up her side, head down and his eyes almost shut. He seemed to count her ribs with touch, skimming across her breast and stroking the base of her throat. She picked up his hand. He swallowed audibly, his eyes falling soft across her face. 

It was almost unfair, Nancy thought. I know I can have him. I could have had him at any time. 

The gratitude of her certainty was electrifying. Frank wanted her, and she filled with a surge of chemicals that could only be named powerful. She kissed the top of his first finger and drew it into her mouth in a slow, wet suck. 

“Holy fuck.”

He sounded like his lungs were collapsing and she gave him mercy, releasing his hand. Nancy smoothed her palms down his chest. She stopped at his jeans and circled the round button as they met eyes.

She nodded, “Yes, let’s do that.”

Frank breathed stress. He cared about everything important for everyone around him. He was shaking his head helplessly. 

“This is a hell of a moment to -” 

Nancy fell back and pulled him down, hugging him to her. “It is, but this moment keeps catching up to us. Literally anything could happen to us, so why can’t it be something good?”

He was knotted up all through his shoulders, and she rubbed her cheek along his jaw. 

“We’re in a shack in the woods, starving and frozen and tired,” he said quietly. “We don’t even know if we’re in danger.”

They wouldn’t be able to sleep for days. Even hesitating they were starting to move together, jittery with heat. There was no way to act normal trying to shelve this for a better time. All their friends would think they were delirious with fever seeing them trying not to get off together.

“You make me feel safe. You make me feel a lot of things,” Nancy told him. 

“Why am I even trying to fight with you,” he muttered. 

They were already clutching and nuzzling each other, but she combed her fingers through his hair. “I don’t know, I’m very nice,” she joked. 

Frank kissed her neck. “You’re perfect.”

The mood was different, his body melding down to fit her as they shimmied jeans down. He pulled a coat over and spread it across the floor, moving Nancy to the marginally softer surface. She folded her arms across her breasts and watched Frank yank at her boot laces and strip her legs. She raked her nails over his hip, distracting him from his own clothes. 

“Hurry,” Nancy told him. 

They were truly on borrowed time. If they were gone too long the search would extend to bringing them back to the lodge. She wanted to linger and enjoy him, but it wasn’t the most comfortable setting. Being found naked by their worried friends and Frank’s brother would sour things. 

“I can’t hurry. I can barely believe this isn’t some hallucination from collapsing in the snow,” he said. 

Frank was running his palms over her legs, staring at her like she was a particularly impossible homework problem. He kept staring at her panties and shutting his eyes, as if she was too bright for his vision. 

“You are not freezing, and if you were I am very warm. I can warm you, if you’d let me.”

She didn’t know herself or Frank. They had turned into lustful cliches, him a devoted suitor fighting his gentlemanly honour and Nancy offering herself up with idiotic frilly language. She could see him trying to calculate some solution. She loved a quick mind with a similar drive as a partner, but she didn’t want to be his thesis project. 

“You could cremate me,” he said roughly. “And I am trying to undo a mental block of several years to treat you like a fully-clothed friend.”

That had never been true even when it was factual. He was tripping on his own logic and she didn’t want to throw around big sentiments too soon. She loved Frank as a friend and this need to feel all of him had been an extra level of awareness for years. It could combine into something significant but that was too much pressure. He could be stubborn.

Nancy stretched her neck out and thought about her words. It pulled at her hair and she reached up to gather it into a ponytail. His hands were still smoothing up and down her legs, but his attention rose to her upper body. She let her hair cover her shoulder and left her breasts bare. 

She took a deep breath and watched his chest mimic it. “It’s always been mutual, but the timing wasn’t right. And I truly believe if I’m wrong about the timing now, we’d still be friends anyway. You’re not the only one who’s thought about it for years.”

It was childish, but she crossed her heart. 

Frank shook his head, closing his hands around her ankles with a sigh. 

“I know that. It’s just a lot. If I visited the same painting at a museum every day for so long they took it down and gave it to me I wouldn’t know what to do. There’s too much beauty to hold without worrying I’ll ruin it,” he said. 

She was going to tear up in a minute, or tackle him and ride him like a lovely, misguided mechanical bull.

“I’m real though, so more like if the painting pinned you and tried to get you naked,” she teased. “So don’t leave me hanging.”

He looked almost sad but he finally stopped groping her below the knees and grazed a thumb across her ribs. “There should be gold leaf outlining you here, and jewels on the bed around you. Gustav Dore would weep.”

One day she might be interested in Frank’s offer of gold if it came in a ring. His reverence was its own kind of kink, and she wasn’t immune to compliments. She was just not going to be able to think of some equal praise with wet panties and his cock twitching at her fingertip slid just under the leg of his shorts. 

“It is a lot,” Nancy said quietly. “So feel it with me, paint me with it. Let us have this.”

He took his hand away and leaned down to kiss along instead, ending at her breast for a lapping taste of her nipple. His mouth closed on her in an almost bite that plumped the flesh and she hoped it bruised or left a scar. She was so relieved he was moving she missed her chance to hold him as he kissed her again, all tongue and no hesitation. 

HIs withdrawal was abrupt, and he stripped her with efficient tugs alternating her legs. Nancy gave a few kicks to get an ankle free. She slipped a hand down the side of his hip and Frank blew an exhale over her cheek. 

“You might be the most dangerous thing in my life.”

She giggled as she pushed away the last of his modesty. “So dramatic. I’d put your gold leaf here.”

His cock throbbed in the crease of her open palm, and Frank attacked her ear with little sparking nips. 

“It’d be a waste with the friction,” he said. 

“Stop stalling and - “ Saying it was so out loud, and she actually pictured it starting an avalanche. Nancy tried to tug him inside without having to make the demand. 

“And what?” Soft, so soft to hear, and careful with his touch; made of wonderful consideration. She knew better than to call him beautiful, but he couldn’t be called less. He shifted and grazed the backs of her thighs, tipping her around to the angle he liked. He was suddenly the new version of Frank, rock hard and steady against her while she panted. Nancy took her hand out of his way. 

“Fuck me. Take me, and make love to me and don’t stop.” Her face blazed with mingled longing and jitters. 

He stretched along his back, pulling her torso longer than she could go. Nancy watched his neck work with a fascination. She kissed his chin when she could reach him and his hands gripped her like he was saving her from a cliff edge. 

“You, uh, might have to slow me down,” Frank told her. He had his coat flattened out beside her, digging in a pocket. He found a condom and a granola bar that he threw over his shoulder. “Joe likes to pad me with his emergency supplies.”

“Smart,” she breathed. 

“If you like being a pack mule.” He muttered it with the habitual grumbles of a loving brother, but his mind wasn’t on Joe. Frank let go of her and knelt to get the condom on properly in the low light. 

He settled on her like it was a feat of sacred geometry calculated in his head. They scuffed around for a moment, Frank gathering the sweater back under her head. He reached down and lined up with a shallow press to her pussy. 

“Okay?”

He was looking at her like the universe ran on her word. “Better all the time,” she whispered. 

The flare of his cock slipped in gingerly, as Frank opened her like a willing lock. It clicked with every little movement, thick and satisfying already. He sighed once he was fully inside and there was sweat forming on his temples. She made sure not to make a sound in case it stopped him.

The fire was giving him tiger stripes along his shoulders, but she ignored that for an experimental lift up with her hips. Her hands went to the backs of his arms and felt him lift with her. His gritted teeth showed frustrated strength as he kept the motion very measured. Nancy knew she was wet and tweaking at him internally. She didn’t know if he was as sure. 

“Frank, relax. Just do what feels good. I’m with you.”

He nodded and shivered through a pullout that actually hurt her a little. The chasing warmth of it was racing around without direction, and it all zeroed in with his next timid thrust. He was getting less polite, though. She let out the little pleased noises as he hit the depth of her and started again. Every movement was just a little rougher, his eyes flickering from her face to shutting to master himself. 

Hormones surged exponentially, and whole chunks of her intellect were just doing rolling blackouts. Nancy clutched at him in different places, trying not to claw him up. She was moaning continuously, and his breathing was a heave of effort.

Her leg curled up and over him, and Frank doubled his speed instantly. He caught her mouth in a smothering kiss. She pulled his hair and held on around his neck. Nancy didn’t even worry she might be really choking him. 

It could have been the most romantic scene in a movie, but she missed all those cues. It was Frank’s weight landing on her pelvis with a crushing feeling that shot to her heart. It was something internal washing through her blood, and pleasure that ripped out all the intrusive thoughts of their non-starts. It was bigger than regrets. It didn’t have to be sweet when it was everything. 

And he stiffened like a corpse with a groan as he came, pressing firmly into her as she registered his thumb circling her clit with frantic apology. Frank’s mouth latched to her neck and sucked at a vein pounding out the terror she might not come with him. His hips stuttered out a plea for forgiveness. Her soul was twisted with almost there, and then she erupted on him with a greedy drag up and sealing a claim on his cock. 

Her eyes opened with confusion. There was a green triangle on the ceiling, and she blinked until it became the end of a kayak. One of her palms was slapped out flat on the floor, as if she’d been thrown down forcefully. Frank was hovering, his fingers moving hair one strand at a time off her sweaty cheek to kiss her there. 

“Are you going to make it,” he asked jokingly, but his eyes were dark with real worry. 

She smiled stupidly, clearing her dry throat. “I think I screamed really loud, but yeah. Sorry to zone out.”

He kissed her with a lingering pet to her face, his thumb brushing a tear leaking from the corner of her eye. “I wasn’t exactly collected,” he said ruefully.

They had probably just paid the toll of letting a physical want plunder parts of their subconscious minds for too long. It had felt a little more like dying than was entirely comfortable, but they were on a floor instead of a bed. They had also either never been on a date together or been acting as good as married off and on for years. It was a lot to process. 

“I’d have felt silly if I was the only one,” Nancy told him. “We need to get back to the lodge soon.”

He had pulled out already, and moved to the side with a sigh. Frank could reset to a serious mode faster than anyone she knew, and she appreciated it most of the time. Nancy let her hand slip down his back and caught his fingers. 

“Hey? Talk later,” she asked. 

“Definitely.”

There was a necessary awkward few minutes of climbing off the floor and finding articles of clothing rumpled everywhere. Even clothed they looked like they’d been wrestling, but it was very late. Wobbling knees would be more common as they all got tired. Frank found the granola bar and shook his head. 

“I hate to admit it, but I could use a snack,” he said. “You want half?”

They ate as Frank stepped outside with a bucket for some snow. He used it to douse the fire, and stirred the wet ash until it went out. 

“There’s a lot of wood here, easily enough to burn through a few days, and this would restart without too much trouble. It’s another shelter to use if someone is out here and can’t make it to the lodge,” he said. “Ready to walk back?”

Nancy tugged her coat zipper to her chin, and pulled her hat down to cover her hair. She felt wonderful. She could go two more days without sleep if there were more stolen moments to be had with him. “Yes, I’m fine.”

She was struck with a wave of guilty recollection of all her fibs to create their current crisis. Everyone had been told it was a vacation and it was a mess in the most optimistic view. She’d made her friends angry, and she was using this as her moment to finally acknowledge Frank’s feelings. They were probably right to call her selfish. 

She watched him take a final look around, and zip his coat. He turned to her and read all her anxiety swamping her thoughts. 

“Come here.”

Frank held her tight for a long moment, squeezing her to make up for the layers of fluff keeping her from the strong shape of him. 

“No one had any reason to see a threat here. They don’t get to pick on you for being the person we all know. We’re going to fix it. We always figure things out eventually, right,” he said quietly. 

“Right.”

He let her go out first, shutting up the little shelter and checking the door was latched well. Frank took her hand and kept it until the paths narrowed with the heavier tree cover. She stayed right on his heels, and he kept glancing back to keep her close. They were something more than friends now, and it was a more certain thing than most.


End file.
